Lassa Fever Death in New Jersey: Risk to Public Called Low

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A 55-year-old man who recently visited West Africa returned home
to New Jersey but died there on Monday evening from a viral
disease called Lassa fever, which can produce symptoms similar to
Ebola but is less contagious, health officials said.

Although
Lassa fever is common in West Africa, it is rare in the
United States — there have been only five other cases of the
virus in this country in the last half century, according to the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The virus doesn't
spread through casual contact, or through the air, and there has
never been a case of person-to-person transmission of Lassa fever
in the U.S., the CDC said.

"Given what we know about how Lassa virus spreads to people, we
think the risk to the public is extremely low,” said Dr. Tina
Tan, an epidemiologist at the New Jersey Department of Health,
said
in a statement.

The man had recently visited Liberia, and arrived back in the
United States on May 17 at John F. Kennedy International Airport
in New York City. He did not have a fever or other symptoms
before his travel or when he landed, the CDC said. [ 10
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But the next day, the man developed a fever, sore throat and
fatigue, and went to a hospital in New Jersey. Although the
patient was asked about his travel history, he did not say that
he had been to West Africa, the CDC said.

The patient was sent home, but returned to the hospital on May 21
with more severe symptoms, and was put in isolation. Yesterday
(May 25), blood samples from the man tested positive for Lassa
fever (and negative for Ebola), the CDC said. The patient died
later that day.

Lassa fever belongs to a group of viruses known as " viral
hemorrhagic fevers," which can cause problems with the body's
blood vessels that lead to increased bleeding. Ebola is another
type of hemorrhagic fever.

But Lassa fever is usually less fatal than Ebola — only 1 percent
of Lassa fever cases result in death, compared with about 70
percent of Ebola cases, the CDC said.

Lassa fever is more common in West Africa than Ebola — there are
about 100,000 to 300,000 cases of Lassa fever in the region each
year. (Until 2014, Ebola illnesses were rare, but a recent
outbreak has caused nearly 27,000 cases of Ebola there in the
last year.) However, Lassa fever is less likely than Ebola to
spread from person-to-person.

Lassa fever is usually transmitted to people in West Africa from
contact with rodent urine or droppings, which carry the virus,
the CDC said. Although the risk is low that anyone else caught
the virus from the New Jersey patient, health officials are
identifying the people who had close contact with the patient and
will monitor them for symptoms for 21 days.